Something New
by crzyfanfics
Summary: Grunt has never been so passionate about anything other then going out and fighting, speeding his wrath across the battlefield. It's always made him happy, but Shepard's newest recruit for the team, Lightning, has left Grunt absolutely confused with himself, but also...fascinated...what kind of drama could ensue from all this? Who Knows. NO COPYRIGHT INTENDED.
1. Chapter 1

Garrus Vakarian was busy doing what he does best in the Normandy. He's always working on Calibrations for the ship most of the time, and rarely does anybody come and visit him, except for Shepard and maybe Jacob a few times. Any other member of the crew coming by is a Rarity.

"Thanix Cannon Blast Radius decreased by 1.8 percent" EDI informed Garrus "What? I could have sworn I had the Blast Radius increased!...I swear this new tech that Shepard keeps authorizing for the Normandy is harder to calibrate with then being a Vigilante!" Garrus ranted in frustration.

"I can detect that your stress levels are rising, Leisure time away from performing Calibrations is recommended" EDI advised in concern.

Garrus took a moment to think about it, then responded with "Heh, As if I could argue with that! Alright you win, I need to relax".

Garrus then stepped away from the system and layed himself down on the bench that Shepard sits in normally when they are talking.

"Perhaps a Nap…yea that sounds like a plan.." Garrus said lazily, but then chuckled "At least it's a better plan then what I tried to pull off with Shepard on Omega".

"I concur, with your facial scaring damage being solid evidence of that statement, Perhaps you should consider Human-constructed Facial lotion to fix the problem" EDI responded, sounding as sarcastic as an AI could.

"Hey you'll be surprised, some of those lotions can work some wonders for us Organics…while making us smell like Earth's Fruit and Flower Variety at the same time" Garrus replied in his own sarcastic tone.

"Correct, or you can-Please wait one moment" EDI was interrupted, made Garrus lift his head up in interest.

Soon after, EDI then informed Garrus "It appears the Tank-Bred Krogan wishes to speak with you on personal matters".

"Whoa, Whoa, Whoa…Slow down" Said Garrus as he sat himself up "Why would Grunt want to talk to me about something personal, doesn't he normally go to Shepard or Kelly for something like that?" He asked, sounding surprised.

"Commander Shepard is busy discussing with the Illusive man, Kelly is also preoccupied herself" EDI informed, Garrus sighed.

"Guess I have no choice then, but I hope it has nothing to do with his animosity towards turians" said Garrus "I might just have to bring my gun".

"Have you engaged in conversation with Grunt in the past?" EDI asked "This is a first for me actually, never have I really sat down with him and had a chat. But we both worked with Shepard on missions together once or twice" Garrus Explained "Oh and yea Shepard did come to me about a talk he had with him once about how he realized that he….isn't very fond of my people".

"Judging by the tone in his voice, rest assured I don't believe it involves anything malicious towards you or your species" EDI stated.

"No offense but I'll have to see it before I believe it" replied Garrus as he stood up from that bench and began to walk out.

"Oh! and before I forget, can you try researching the Thanix Cannon System and see what you can dig up, something to help me increase the blast radius" Garrus requested.

"Duly Noted, I hope you enjoy your discussion with the Krogan" EDI responded right before Garrus left the room, while making his way to the elevator he thought to himself _"I'm just hoping I live to tell the damn tale"_.

Garrus made his way to the elevator and set it to go down into Deck 4: Engineering. How did he feel exactly, nervous is an understatement. After giving it some thought, he doesn't believe that it would be about Grunt's Hatred of turians because it already was addressed with Shepard, and he even said it himself that he doesn't want to hurt him because of that.

With that said, the fact that grunt chose him as an alternative to talking to Shepard or Kelly was strange indeed. He could've just asked to talk with Miranda, seeing how part of her job is to send daily reports to the illusive man and the ship and crew's status. Or even Mordin, who is the most intelligent individual on the ship. What could Grunt gain out talking with Garrus though? He really does not know.

Garrus arrived on Deck 4, took a deep breath and said to himself "Let's get this over with…" then started to head towards the Port Cargo Dock.

He walked inside, and saw Grunt sitting down on a cargo box on the left side of the room right across from the door. He heard the door open with Garrus walking through, no surprise.

"Garrus" Grunt welcomed him, he looked away nervously and said "Hehe..I'm glad you came by".

Grunt was acting somewhat strange, at least according to Garrus. But he was going to ignore that for the time being.

Garrus sighed "Yea well I'm on my break right now, can't be working on the Normandy around the clock you know…besides, she probably needs a rest herself" He explained as he sat down right across from grunt on another cargo box.

"She? I don't understand…are you calling our ship that? Okeer's data file said "She" was a pronoun for females, not…things…" Grunt questioned.

"That's true, but what he forgot to teach you must be that when you really care about a "Thing" a lot, like a ship for example, you may start referring to that thing as a person itself to show how much appreciation you have for it, some might even give that object a name…it's like that old rifle Zaeed has, Jessie he calls it" Garrus explained "Try and keep that in mind".

"If you say so.." Grunt replied, it still sounded strange to him but that didn't matter right now.

"So, what's really on your mind, why'd you tell EDI to send me here?" He finally asked, Grunt was silent for a few moments "Well?" Garrus asked again.

"Sorry, I haven't worked out how I want to explain this really…" Garrus found it pretty funny how the perfect, krogan killing machine was actually making an apology. And to a turian at that, just something really ironic.

"…Alright, here goes nothing…" Grunt said, in indication he thought of how to start explaining this.

"Have you ever gone to sleep, and…dreamed…about a female?" Grunt asked, this took Garrus by surprise. The last thing he could've expected from Grunt was a conversation like this.

Garrus sighed in relief, at least this wasn't anything too concerning for him "Plenty of us have Grunt, no matter what species, these kinds of dreams aren't anything rare" He explained.

They were both Silent for a moment, with Grunt still trying to look away from him.

Garrus then asked "Is it somebody who you met? what kind of species was she? Give me some description here".

"No, I've never met this female, and she was a human with…Pink hair, Blue eyes, she was caucasion…uhhh…her breasts were-" Garrus decided to cut him off there "Okay I think the picture is clear enough" As much as he would've liked to go on with that, he didn't want to risk this conversation turning into something else entirely.

"What did you think about her Grunt? Did you….enjoy seeing her?" Garrus asked.

"It's just….it's so weird, I'm pure Krogan! Nothing excites me more then being out there with Shepard! Fighting! Spreading blood across the battlefield! I'm loaded with adrenaline almost all the damn time! Even just waiting on my next chance to go out there makes me tingle with joy! But then, I look at this female in my dream…and I just feel so….calm and….at peace! I don't think about fighting at all! I just had a…feeling when I saw her, I can't explain it myself" Grunt finished explaining.

"Now let me ask you something else, you are aware of romance, am I right?" Garrus asked "Romance? That some kind of weird alien food?" Grunt asked in response.

Garrus thought to himself _"Out of everything Okeer had taught him, he decided to leave something like that out and leave me to go through the trouble…just my luck"_.

"Well it's a pretty complex thing Grunt, the term "Romance" has quite a few meanings, but in your case…It would represent an…emotional attachment between you and someone else, like, you really care about that person, and that person really cares about you back" Garrus was really making an effort to explain this in a way that Grunt could understand, after all he was new to the concept.

"So it's kind of like what you were talking about earlier with treating objects as a person, is that also a romance?" Grunt asked, Garrus's eyes shot wide open "Wha- No,No,No,No not necessarily, alright you know what-" Garrus stood up, as awkward for him as the experience he came up with be, he came up with a good idea.

"I….really should get back to work now, but I have a plan, you and me are going to watch some movies, films, about romance so that you can start to understand it better, I'd say in about a couple hours and if you think I forgot, tell EDI to remind me, you got that?" Grunt nodded his head in agreement, while looking at the floor innocently.

Garrus began to walk towards the door, but before going out of the room he turned around and said "I know this feeling of yours must be hard for you to understand, maybe even a little scary, but rest assured you'll be alright even if I need to help out a lil' myself…besides, I'm the type who will aid his comrades in need until my dying breath, I won't let you go in alone on this one" Garrus just wanted to reassure Grunt of that.

"Hey! When the hell did I ever say I was scared! I'll make this "Romance" concept scared of me if I have to!" Grunt barked back.

Garrus chucked "Whatever you say big guy, see you in a couple hours! I gotta get back to work…and also, try to keep your head up".

As soon as he was about to turn around, he realized that he forgot to ask something "Oh before I forget, why did you choose to talk to me?" Garrus asked, but Grunt responded with silence and looking away.

After a few moments of that "…It's nothing, it's just that you and Shepard have history working together, I really couldn't think of anyone else more fit to talk to about this" Grunt finally responded.

Garrus sensed hints of dishonesty in his voice, but he was going to let it slide for right now "If you say so, well you know me…calibrations and all, see you in a couple hours" Said Garrus as he finally walked away from the room.

After that, Grunt continued to sit there, thinking to himself

"_Damnit! I don't know what the hell Garrus is talking about with this Romance crap!...but that female…"_.

Meanwhile, Garrus made his way towards the elevator. He was right in front of it but before he went inside EDI's voice popped up out of nowhere "It appears like your hypothesis was wrong Garrus, I was able to depict what kind of subject may be troubling him and you immediately assumed it was Turian related".

"Oh alright fine EDI you were right! The conversation wasn't anything like that!"

Garrus replied.

"As an organic may say – EDI: 1 and Garrus: 0" said EDI teasingly. Garrus scoffed in response "Yea that's real cute, on another note…did you find anything to help with calibrating the thanix cannon?" Garrus asked.

"Nothing substantial, but I discovered new bits of information that we missed. Return to your station and we can continue" EDI informed.

"Whatever you say" Garrus replied, walking into the elevator. Still, his mind was crowded in thoughts of Grunt's problem. Never before has he been put in a situation where he needs to teach about romance, let alone to a goddamn Krogan. He only hopes that Grunt can start to understand.

Meanwhile, inside a hotel on the planet Illium. There was a women who was just waking up in the morning. She got out of bed, she needed to shower and put on some fresh clothing.

Some time has passed since that and now she has showered and is fully dressed now wearing a casual Black shirt, gray sweatpants and black sandals. Even fixed her hair to how it normally is. And of course, she has her omni-tool equipped with her. The prostitute was still asleep in the bed however.

She went inside a little refridgerator and pulled out an ice-cold soda, she then sat down on the right side of the bed and took a sip.

"Last time I checked, I believe you are supposed to have Coffee in the morning…but whatever method of Caffeine works best for you I suppose" That voice popped up out of her Omni-tool.

She held her Omni-tool up "The Illusive man? What the hell do you want from me this time?" She questioned.

"You surely haven't changed a bit since we last spoke Farron, always needing to go straight to the point-you should value a bit of small talk from time to time" The Illusive man replied.

"that's Lightning Farron, and you should Value when somebody just woke up in the morning, but I couldn't care less about that…now what is it you want?" Lightning asked, she was starting to lose her patience.

The Illusive man changed into a more serious tone of voice "The Survival of the human race" He stated bluntly.

"The Survival of the Human Race? What kind of game are you playing at?" Lightning questioned with a more aggressive tone of voice.

"Now Lightning, this situation is many things…but a game is not one of them" The Illusive man replied "Now, are you aware of the recent abductions on human colonies?".

"What about them?" Lightning said as she stood up from the bed, took another sip of her soda and walked inside the restroom and closed the door just in case anybody were to hear their conversation somehow.

"Now let me ask you something else, you are familiar with Commander Shepard, Am I right?" He asked, Lightning scoffed in response.

"What else are you going to ask me? What color is an asari? Shepard's the hero of the Citadel who saved "everyone" from the Geth attack two years ago but was KIA shortly after….such a legend, now what about her?" Lightning asked, starting to get more frustrated.

"Well, for the past two years since then, Cerberus has put a lot of our money and resources into bringing her back to life, we succeeded. She alive, working with us as a commander of her own ship helping us in the fight" The Illusive man explained.

"You brought her back to life?! I'll need proof before I believe a single word you're telling me" Lightning replied with aggressive yelling.

"Well I think the best way is the old fashioned way, go and meet her yourself" The Illusive man replied.

"Stop beating around the bush already! What the hell do you want from me?" Lightning had it with the Illusive man at this point.

"Shepard has been divising a team of powerful individuals to fight the enemy responsible for the abductions, and I want you to join" The Illusive man finally revealed the reason for contacting Lightning.

"Really? I'm not sure if what you have told me is enough for me to trust a single damn word you say, and I haven't forgetten what happened last time I did something for you" Lightning replied "So the answer is No, deal with it".

"To be perfectly honest, I'd be pretty disappointed in you if you agreed right away…which is why I have a bit of a, proposition for you".

"What's that exactly? Creds? Try and be more original" Lightning replied, it was gonna take more then that to convince her.

The Illusive man took a deep breath, then answered "You had a beautiful younger sister, Serah her name was if I'm not mistaken….quite a shame what happened to her at the geth attack".

Lightning's eyes shot wide open, her other hand that wasn't holding up the omni-tool was clenched in a tight fist.

She started to breath heavily, then started "You….You!..." but then the Illusive man cut her off.

"Your Sister never died Lightning, She survived the Geth Attack" The Illusive man revealed, Lightning was becoming furious.

"Don't fucking toy with me!" Lightning barked back, the illusive man then brought up footage of a what appeared to be her sister, on the Krogan Homeworld Tuchanka.

"That's fake!...there is no way that's real" Lightning barked back, she was on the verge of an emotional breakdown right now.

"Maybe it is, maybe it isn't…but is this the kind of opportunity that you don't want to investigate? In the hope Serah is still alive" The Illusive man asked "I have more intel that I can provide on your sister, all you need to do is join Shepard's crew".

"If your just tricking me! If it really is a lie!...you won't get away with it" Lightning threatened.

"Should I take that as a yes?" the Illusive man asked. Lightning was silent for a few moments, then spoke up.

"I have a condition however, I want someone else to join me on this…someone I can trust" Lightning dictated "And who would that be?".

"Alliance General and Pilot Sazh Katzroy" the Illusive man brought up his information "Ah General Katzroy, well former anyway, he left a year ago and has been doing plenty of mercenary work…conveniently enough he's on Illium right now" He explained "Call him by your Omni tool, here I'm adding the number on your contacts".

"And I have no problem with you bringing him, just be sure to inform Shepard" The Illusive man reminded.

"You are doing a good thing here Lightning, the Human race is in grave danger right now, Shepard will provide you with more details, but I can assure you myself that we need to fight this!" Lightning was looking away.

"Once you can recruit Katzroy, contact me and I'll tell you when and where to meet Shepard, Until then" The Illusive man then hung up on the omni tool.

Lightning immediately turned on the sink and tried washing her face, then looked at the mirror. For a moment she saw her sister Serah looking back at her in the reflection, smiling at her.

"Wha-" she immediately rubbed her eyes and looked back at the mirror, her normal reflection was back.

"Damnit!" she yelled as she slammed her palm on the mirror, started to breathe heavily afterwards. She really had no idea what she was getting herself into, but if there was even the smallest chance that her sister was still alive…No matter what the consequences….

Lightning would not let it go.

End of chapter 1

**A/N:** Ah, my first Non-MLP FIM fan fiction. This is actually something I've been wanted to do for a LONG time I'll tell you, before I started "How To Love" this was actually going to be my first fan-fiction initially but I ended up changing my mind on that for whatever reason. But I've had this story planned for a long time, not fully, but the idea was always there. What really inspired me to ship Grunt from the Mass Effect series with Lightning from the FFXIII series was that I always believed that Grunt would actually grow an attraction to Lightning because she would seem like such a strong, independant character who can really kick ass. So yea, and for any of you have are concerned that this will potentially slow down my other work, don't even sweat it, I won't let that happen. I know I haven't actually posted anything in a long time and that's just because I've been dealing with a lot in my personal life, it's been rough on me and I'm not going to go into it. But I've talked to some people and they really inspired me, so I'm back in action and I won't let you guys down like this anymore.

So yea, I hope you enjoyed this first chapter, please let me know what you thought via review, and thanks for reading.


	2. Chapter 2

Lightning stepped out of the bathroom and sat down on her bed, immediately starting to look for Sazh on her contact list. She didn't want to waste any time.

After Spotting a number with Sazh Katzroy on it, he immediately chose it and tried calling it.

It took a few moments of ringing, but he had eventually answered "Hey? Who's this?" Sazh answered, Lightning recognized that voice immediately, at least the Illusive man wasn't dishonest about that.

"I-It's me, Officer Farron, you remember me right?" Lightning asked, anxious to hear what Sazh was going to say, it's been a little more then 2 years since they've seen eachother, let alone had any contact with eachother.

"Wha-Farron?! I'll be damned! You got a hell of a lot to explain for yourself kid!" Sazh replied, sounding shocked "You don't have the slightest clue….We're both on Illium so let's meet up, then I'll explain everything" Lightning instructed as she arose from the bed.

"Sounds like a plan…how bout the bar in Nos Astra? drinks are on me!" Sazh suggested, Lightning smirked "Hmph, you haven't changed at all...sure, can you start heading there now?" She asked.

"Not wasting time are you? Aww what the hell! It's not like I need to be anywhere, besides it's been 2 years for crying out loud! Okay I'm on my way" Sazh answered.

"Alright, So am I, see you there" Lightning closed if off, then hung up the call. After two years, they were actually going to reunite.

Thankfully, the hotel that Lightning spent the night wasn't far away from the bar at all, seeing how she was already in Nost Astra to begin with. So it was actually convenient for her, she had already made her way to the bar. She sat down at a stool and spun it around to the direction of the door, waiting for Sazh for appear.

"Oh well I haven't seen you around here before…." A Turian appeared on an empty stool to her left. Lightning looked at him for brief moment then started looking at the door again.

Lightning scoffed "Sorry, I'm not going to have sex with you, why don't you try prostitution?" She recommended mockingly, she really didn't want to be bothered by random people trying to hit on her.

"Whoa, Whoa, Whoa…I'm not trying to get hasty here, just saw you looking kind of lonely is all" This turian replied, Lightning turned her head back around at him.

"Then learn how to read emotions, I'm just waiting for a friend…" She replied, sounding irritated as she turned her head away from him again.

He laughed briefly in response "That's a little odd, cause you been waiting for this guy for some while now…what kind of friend would leave you hanging like this, a real jerk kind of one if you ask me…" he explained, sounding cocky.

"Pretty sure I didn't ask you, maybe I should wait for him outside the bar…." Lightning replied, as she got up from the stool and started to walk away.

The turian caught up to her quickly "Now you hold up!" He angrily told her, he then grabbed her arm roughly which put her to a stop.

"What did I just say about "Not getting hasty"? Hehehe...I'm pointing a pistol to your lower back, if I hear a cry for help or if you try to run away I'll pull the trigger…" He threatened.

Lightning smirked "Charming" she stated, then immediately she performed a backflip over his body which instantly attracted the attention of everyone in the room. She then wrapped her arm around his neck and with her other hand looking like she was ready to snap it.

Her grip was just too strong, he could barely breath. The Turian dropped the pistol and used both of his hands to try and break free, but it was to no prevail.

"Consider this as close to getting intimate with me as you are going to get" Lightning claimed, she then released her grip and slid right through his legs inevitably knocking his whole body down. She picked up that pistol he dropped, stood up at aimed it directly at his head, who was knocked down on his back.

He looked up to see Lightning aiming the gun at him and he was spooked, his eyes shot up wide open. He then covered his eyes with both of arms, thinking that this was the end of it all, waiting for her to pull the trigger.

Lightning quickly rolled her eyes around the room noticing some people were actually starting to run away, screaming. She then turned her attention back to the turian who was starting to lower his arms because she hasn't shot him yet.

She sighed "It's only a matter of minutes until the police show up, so let me just say you this. Were you actually going to shoot me over something as insignificant as this? would you be able to live with the consequences or worse, the regret? I can see it in your eyes, you're no killer…this was nothing but a blank threat to get me to do what you want, immediately expecting that I would comply and I won't lie, most will…But I'm far from being like most people, unlike you I've made threats, and I'll always be willing to follow through with them" Lightning explained, with the most unamused expression on her face.

Lightning closed her eyes and took a deep breath, then followed with "Just get out of here, and don't do things like this anymore, or you'll get what's coming to you, one way or another" Lightning finished off, she then lowered her arm and stopped aiming at him.

He raised his body up from the floor and ran away as fast towards the exit from the bar. As the door opened and he ran out however, Sazh Katzroy was just walking in, but Lightning didn't notice immediately.

"Hey! Farron! Aren't you a sight for sore eyes…It's been too damn long!" He greeted cheerfully, Lightning turned around to him "Sazh…It's good to see you".

Sazh was trying to approach him for a hug, but Lightning quickly then began to walk away towards the exit "I got myself involved in a crime scene so we're gonna have to relocate this reunion, let's just hurry before the police shows up, then I'll brief you on everything that's happened" Lightning explained formally.

She then begun to run towards the exit "But wai-" Sazh turned around in the direction she ran towards and reached out his right arm to her "Well at least that would explain the gun in her hand…" Sazh said to himself, he then sighed and ran towards the direction that Lightning was headed in.

"_You've changed a lot, ain't you Farron?"_

Meanwhile, back on the Normandy. Grunt was in Deck 3, also known as the crew deck, was seated in one of the tables waiting on Gardner to have his meal ready. It's not easy preparing a meal fit for a krogan, especially considering the limited resources on the ship.

While waiting, his mind was still wandering on his conversation with Garrus. And everything that he's been feeling for a while now, you could just tell by the expression on his face that he just wasn't himself. The Perfect-Krogan Killing Machine who looks like he's ready to just go on a rampage across the ship at any given time was just very…calm, lost, dazed.

"You feeling alright buddy, you seem conflicted-mind if I sit here?" A female voice had asked, Grunt couldn't see anybody nearby who could've said that. But because of that simple fact, and the familiarity of the voice, he knew exactly who it was.

Kasumi turned off her invisibility cloak, she was already seated right across from Grunt on the other side of the table "Too late, I already helped myself" She quickly stated, she even had a bowl of noodles that she just decloaked.

"Can't you just sit down normally for once Kasumi?" He asked, sounding a little irritated. Kasumi giggled a little and shrugged her shoulders "I can't help it, besides you're one to talk…has something been bothering you?" She asked, with a tone of concern for her voice. She was using traditional wooden chopsticks for her noodles and starting to slurp some, which disgusted Grunt, he pulled his head away.

"Ugh, I'll never understand the human fascination with those….worms…" Grunt commented "The correct terminology is Ramen, and it's a matter of opinion really, In my case, I remember growing up and the Ramen my grandmother used to make was THE best" She corrected him, then continued to slurp some more of it.

"Uhhh…Termi-what?" Grunt questioned, she sighed "Don't worry about it" Kasumi replied quickly, Grunt let out a sigh and looked away from Kasumi to the ground on his left, appearing uninterested and Kasumi saw right through it.

"Forget about the Ramen Grunt, I know something is bothering you….you are giving me a very negative aura" Kasumi accused, Grunt knew that trying to hide something like this was pretty pointless and wouldn't get him anywhere.

End of Chapter 2

**A/N: **Okay I'm well aware that the chapter really short and all, and by no means will chapter lengths such as this be an ongoing process. It's just that I've been pretty busy lately and haven't had enough time to work on this as I would've liked, and even sometimes when I'm not busy is when I just feel like straight up relaxing like lol it's been hectic. I just wanted to get this out there to hold you guys over really and I appreciate those of you who are following this story, it's just awesome really.

So I hope you guys enjoyed this installment, trust me things will only get better from this moment on with this story. So stay tuned and see ya next time.


	3. Chapter 3

"What do you know about Romance?" He finally popped the question, Kasumi's eyes shot wide open, she started to slide back with her seat. Out of all the possibilities of things that could be troubling the Krogan, this is the last one she would expect.

She started to chuckle slightly, looking away, this was definitely awkward at the time "Whoa…Hold on for a moment, where did THAT come from?" Kasumi asked, Grunt scoffed angrily, crossed his arms, looked away and said "Should've expected this!".

Kasumi took a deep breath and tried to look at Grunt seriously, but then couldn't resist from giggling herself, she even tried stopping herself by putting her hands over her mouth.

Grunt was really beginning to lose his temper, he then looked directly at her "Alright fine! If you're just gonna laugh at me then do it by yourself! I'll find somewhere else to sit my ass at…" Grunt responded angrily as he started to stand up from his seat.

Kasumi then quickly calmed herself down "Wait!" she called out before Grunt was about to leave.

"I'm sorry, It's not that I don't take Romance seriously, if anything I'm the biggest expert with the subject you can find on this ship, you just don't seem like the type to be even remotely interested, but rest assured I don't discriminate, so sit back down please…" she tried explaining, Grunt sighed heavily and sat himself back down.

"I know from experience that looks can be deceiving, so tell me, what's up?" Kasumi asked, Grunt then scoffed and crossed his arms again "Why should I? feeling up to another good laugh?" He questioned, with a strong attitude.

Kasumi sighed "I know that was insensitive of me before, and I apologize, it won't happen again and you have my word on it" She apologized.

Grunt was willing to accept her apology _"Ugh, what do I really have to lose I guess?"_ he thought to himself, but then he realized one other thing.

"Oh yea, and don't go around telling everybody about this, especially Jack, she would never give me a goddamn break" Grunt requested "Relax, my lips are sealed, now…Tell! Tell!".

Grunt calmed himself down, and began to explain "I've….I've been having these strange dreams lately…dreams about a women, never met her before, she is a human with blue eyes, pink hair…she is Caucasian, you get the idea….and seeing her in my dreams have made me feel so different! I've been designed to be pure krogan by the Warlord Okeer! I Spread my wrath fighting alongside Shepard, and it makes me happy! Happier then anything!...but this feeling in my dreams, it's so new to me!".

Kasumi was listening very closely throughout that explanation "Yea, they call that being Affectionate, it's when you have strong feelings towards something, or someone in your case, and you just can't let go" She clarified.

She continued to eat her ramen after that short explanation, giving Grunt a moment to think about it "Ah…so it's…it's kind of like….like being determined! Like when I'm fighting…and my mind is on nothing else except to kill everything and leave no survivors! Aha! I'm starting to get it now!" Grunt replied starting to get himself excited, Kasumi had spit out her ramen in shock from his choice of comparison.

She coughed for a few moments, then said "That's…..one way to look at it" with an encouraging tone of voice and a forced smile on her face, she then thought to herself

"_What did I just get myself into?"_

Meanwhile, Lightning and Sazh had already rushed out of that bar, and no police thankfully were after them, they were both now in the shopping district.

Sazh was breathing heavily right now, with his hand held over his heart "Damn, I haven't ran like that in a long time….." he claimed, struggling to breath as they both came to a stop "Gettin' too old for this though…." He followed up, then came out with a few heavy coughs.

Lightning disregarded Sazh's exhaustion at the moment, and scoped the area, he then regained his posture slowly but steadily "I think we in the clear" he stated.

"It's possible, don't get too relaxed though" Lightning replied, Sazh then realized one thing. Lightning was actually running much faster then he was, and she didn't look exhausted one bit, she looked completely unphased.

"When the hell did you have stamina like that, back in the alliance I lost track of how many times you needed to stop for breath during a mission" He pointed out.

"I've been trained and conditioned exponentially since the Geth Attack on the Citadel" Lightning said, very straight forward and to the point. They both then started to walk together

They were both very silent for a few moments as they were walking, but Lightning knew there was plenty on Sazh's mind right now. He seemed very tense and kept looking back at her, the signs that he really wanted to say something to her was obvious.

He couldn't take it anymore "Alright Farron! I get that we had to delay this conversation for good reason, police and all! But I'm sick of just running around this place with someone who I don't know shit about now-seeing how that said "someone" was recorded KIA 2 years ago, and is up to god knows what these days!".

Lightning looked the other way "We were running, now we're walking" she pointed out "That's not the point you idiot!" Sazh snapped back, he then stopped walking and covered up his face using both his hands in frustration, taking a deep breath.

After noticing, Lightning stopped walking herself and turned around at Sazh, they were about 5 feet away.

She sighed "I thought we could find another bar or at least somewhere nearby to settle at before we have this conversation, but you rather we just talk here?" she questioned.

Sazh had already gradually calmed himself down "Don't get me wrong, I'd love to have a drink with you, and maybe we will one of these days, but I can't really wait much longer right now…because the person I'm looking at…" Sazh started, he then paused for a moment "Just ain't you anymore…".

"Circumstances have been changing in my life, I had no other option then to change with it" She stated as she walked towards the balcony and rested her arms on it, looking out to the city.

"What about your sister, Serah?" Sazh brought up "Guessing she survived too, hasn't she?" Lightning then began to look down from the balcony, with an innocent look in her eyes that she refused to let Sazh see.

"If I called you for the sole purpose of "catching up", I would've said No…" Lightning replied "What the hell are you-" Sazh was about to ask, but was cut off.

Lightning turned around in a hurry, with a determined look in her eyes "I need your help!" She finally stated "Well at least that explains why you contacted me for the first time after 2 years".

Lightning took a deep breath "You familiar with the recent abductions on human colonies lately?" She asked "I've seen a few news reports, what about them?"

"The Illusive man contacted me this morning, he wants me to join this team that Commander Shepard himself is gathering to fight the enemy responsible-" Sazh cut her off desperately.

"Whoa, Whoa, Whoa!...Did you just say Commander Shepard? Hero of the Citadel? Not to mention she was recorded KIA shortly after?...For god's sake, Are all you people immortal or some crap! He survived?" Sazh questioned, sounding flabbergasted.

"No he died, but Cerberus brought him back to life using an endless amount of their money and resources I'm sure, now she's back to life…" Lightning explained.

"Hmph, I know Cerberus is not the type to play around, but to bring someone back to life, and for it to be Shepard at that? Really makes you wonder…." Sazh replied, as he was walking over to the ledge and rested his arms on it, Lightning followed next to him.

They were both quiet for a few moments "So the Illusive man wants you to join Shepard's team? But what does any of this have to do with your sister?".

"For the past two years, I was convinced that she was killed during the Geth attack… but The Illusive man is telling me that she survived and showed me some images of her, on the Krogan Homeworld, Tuchanka" Lightning explained.

"What is she doing there?" Sazh asked "I'm trying to find the answer to that question too, the Illusive Man said he would provide me with more intel on Serah if I Join the team".

Sazh sighed and shook his head slowly "You want your sister back, I get that…but can you really trust him? Why does he want you to join anyway? Don't take this the wrong way but why are you so special?" Sazh questioned sounding confused.

"Have you heard of a mercenary named Lightning?" She asked, looking to his direction "Lightning?...Well yea, I mean-" he was cut off "What do you know about her?".

"Mostly just rumors, she's some kind of…..Assassin who's shook up the underground this past year, she's traveled all across the galaxy murdered mass amounts of Eclipse, Blue Sun and Blood pack members, fully wiped out smaller gangs, they even say that she never even called herself Lightning at first, that was a name that someone gave her because when she strikes you never see it coming, and there's no stopping it….well, so the rumors say….but what does that have to do with anything?"

Lightning got up from leaning on the balcony, and stood up directly towards Sazh who followed and stood to Lightning.

"More then you think, I'm Lightning Farron, ex-Alliance, but now I work for PSICOM, pleasure to meet you".

End of Chapter 3

**A/N:** Okay I'm really sorry for the amount of time it took to get this out, not to mention the chapter was pretty short, I've just had a lot going on recently where I either haven't had the time nor was I really in the mood to work on this. I do thank anybody who is following this story I do appreciate it and I'll do my best to get chapter 4 out sooner then later and for that said chapter to be a decent length but I make no promises. I still have some interesting stuff planned though, so stay tuned lol Next chapter will wrap up the conversation between Lightning and Sazh and I will get back to Grunt's POV right after so yea. Hope you still enjoyed and I will see you all next time.


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